ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...17.Section:
Reports from ObserversAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
ESO
AA(ESO)Abstract:
One of the thousands of minor planets orbiting the Sun has been found to have its own mini planetary system. Astronomer Franck Marchis (University of California, Berkeley) and his colleagues at the Observatoire de Paris have discovered the first triple asteroid system – two small asteroids orbiting a larger one known since 1866 as 87 Sylvia.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...32.Section:
Reports from ObserversAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
ESO
AA(ESO)Abstract:
Using the VLT, Rémi Cabanac and colleagues1 have discovered a new and very impressive Einstein ring. This cosmic mirage, dubbed FOR J0332-3557, is seen towards the southern constellation Fornax (the Furnace), and is remarkable on at least two counts. First, it is a bright, almost complete Einstein ring. Second, it is the farthest of its type ever found.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...35.Section:
Reports from ObserversAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
ESO
AA(ESO)Abstract:
An Italian team of astronomers1 has used the VLT to observe the afterglow of a Gamma-ray burst that is the farthest known to date with a measured redshift of 6.3. “This also means that it is among the intrinsically brightest Gamma-ray bursts ever observed”, said Guido Chincarini from INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Brera and University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) and leader of a team that studied the object with ESO’s Very Large Telescope. “Its luminosity is such that within a few minutes it must have released 300 times more energy than the Sun will release during its entire life of 10 000 million years.”

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...42LSection:
Reports from ObserversAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Lilly, S.; The zCOSMOS Team
AA(ETH, Zürich, Switzerland) AB(The zCOSMOS Team)Abstract:
The last ten years have seen the opening up of dramatic new vistas of the furthest reaches of space and time - an exploration in which the VLT has played a major role. However, the work so far has been exploratory, and sampled only small and possibly unrepresentative volumes of the distant Universe. The next step is to bring to bear on a single large area of sky the full range of techniques that have been developed, using almost all of the most powerful observing facilities in the world. This next step is called COSMOS and the ESO VLT will make a major enabling contribution to this programme through the zCOSMOS survey being carried out with the VIMOS spectrograph.References:
http://www.astro.caltech.edu /~cosmos;http://www.exp-astro.phys.ethz.ch/zCOSMOS

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...46.Section:
Reports from ObserversAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
ESO
AA(ESO)Abstract:
British astronomers1 have opened a new window on the Universe with the recent commissioning of the Visitor Instrument ULTRACAM on the VLT). ULTRACAM is an ultrafast camera capable of capturing some of the most rapid astronomical events. It can take up to 500 pictures a second in three different colours simultaneously. It has been designed and built by scientists from the Universities of Sheffield and Warwick (United Kingdom), in collaboration with the UK Astronomy Technology Centre in Edinburgh.

Telescopes and Instrumentation

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...48WSection:
Telescopes and InstrumentationAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Wilson, T.
AA(ESO)Abstract:
The antennas are the largest single item in the ALMA budget. Thus the status of antenna procurement is of the highest importance for the project. Associated Universities Inc/NRAO have been given ALMA Board approval and permission by the US National Science Foundation to procure their antennas. On July 11, they signed a contract with VertexRSI for up to 32 antennas for ALMA. ESO is moving ahead with its antenna procurement as quickly as possible. The Joint ALMA Office is leading the rebaselining (a reassessment of project costs). This is proceeding at full speed. There will be discussions of both the rebaselining and antenna procurement issues at the next meetings of the ESO Council to be held in September.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...50ESection:
Telescopes and InstrumentationAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Eschwey, J.
AA(ESO)Abstract:
In the remote Atacama Desert, some 30 km South of the budding tourist hub of San Pedro de Atacama, the next giant leap for the world’s astronomical community is under way. Nestled at approximately 2 900 metres above sea level amid the rolling foothills of the Andean Plateau the facility for the OSF (Operation Support Facility) base camp is complete, and we are overseeing the initial earthwork for the Technical Area Buildings.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...52CSection:
Telescopes and InstrumentationAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Cullum, M.
AA(ESO)Abstract:
Technology Transfer has become an important theme for the European Commission as a means of promoting innovation and competitiveness within European industry. It is also an area where organisations like ESO, that are engaged in developing highly advanced research facilities, can and do make significant contributions. This article discussed some of the processes involved in Technology Transfer and provides several examples of technological innovations developed by ESO in-house and through its procurement activities.

Other Astronomical News

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...56KSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Kerber, F.; Hainaut, O.
AA(ST-ECF) AB(ESO)Abstract:
The ESA-ESO working group on extrasolar planets was the first of a number of such groups to make a careful analysis of scientific fields that are of interest to both ESA and ESO. The groups also make recommendations for the development of the fields facilitating coordinated planning between the two leading European organisations advancing astronomy from the ground and from space.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...56FSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Fosbury, R. A. E.
AA(ST-ECF)Abstract:
Starting in September 2003, ESO and ESA have now held two science planning coordination meetings in order to ensure that there remains a joint awareness of potential future synergies or missed opportunities on the ground or in space. The meetings were attended by the chairs (or representatives) of the scientific advisory committees and by the executives of both organisations. The initiative was taken with the realisation that the two organisations are serving essentially the same scientific communities and share common scientific goals.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...59RSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Robson, I.; Christensen, L. L.
AA(UK Astronomy Technology Centre, UK) AB(Hubble European Space Agency Information Centre, Germany)Abstract:
Over one hundred astronomers, public information officers, planetarium specialists and image-processing gurus descended on ESO Garching in June for CAP 2005 – Communicating Astronomy with the Public 2005. This was the third international conference addressing astronomy outreach; the previous venues being La Palma and Washington DC. The main aim was to bring together the specialists from the various strands of astronomy undertaking outreach in the broadest sense. The four-day conference was a resounding success, much was achieved and the work of ESO was better appreciated (especially from the non- European perspective) through a tour of the facility. Some of the highlights of the local environs were much enjoyed through the conference dinner at the Deutsche Museum’s aviation museum “Flugwerft Schleißheim” – (including cockpit tours of an F4 Phantom) and a splendid (and well liquid refreshed) evening at the Augustinerkeller, one of the largest Munich Biergartens.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...60PSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Padovani, P.; Dolensky, M.
AA(ESO) AB(ESO)Abstract:
The Virtual Observatory (VO) is an innovative, evolving system, which will allow users to interrogate multiple data centres in a seamless and transparent way, to best utilise astronomical data. New science will be enabled, moving astronomy beyond “classical” identification by allowing the characterisation of the properties of very faint sources by using all the available information.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...62SSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Shaver, P.
AA(ESO)Abstract:
This year the joint ESA-ESO-CERN symposium was held in conjunction with the European Physical Society, on the occasion of the Centennial of Einstein’s annus mirabilis and the World Year of Physics. It took place on July 11–14 in Bern, where Einstein wrote his famous papers in 1905, and was part of a wide range of events to celebrate the centennial.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...63JSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Janssen, E.
AA(ESO)Abstract:
The month of July is, in many parts of Europe, considered to be a relatively “quiet time” of the year with many millions of people away on summer vacation. Not so for ESO’s Public Affairs Department. The month began with a series of press activities around the Deep Impact event and included several press conferences at the ESO Headquarters (mostly at odd hours!), video press conferences with Paranal, La Silla and ESTEC in the Netherlands, live TV transmissions from ESO Garching as well as from Paranal, etc.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...64ASection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Argandona, G.; Mirabel, F.
AA(ESO) AB(ESO)Abstract:
One of the initiatives of ESO in Chile is the strengthening of the links with Chilean and Latin American media, to provide the information needed to educate the public in Latin America on the latest advancements in astronomy and astrophysics. This initiative has produced a considerable increase in the media coverage of ESO science activities, as described in Figure 1, which shows the evolution in the number of media publications in Chile on recent achievements at ESO.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...66MSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Miley, G.; Madsen, C.; Scorza de Appl, C.
AA(Leiden University) AB(ESO) AC(University of Heidelberg)Abstract:
Universe Awareness (UNA) is an international programme that will expose economically-disadvantaged young children, between ages 4 and 10 years, in developed and developing countries to the inspirational aspects of modern astronomy.

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121...68CSection:
Other Astronomical NewsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
Cesarsky, C.
AA(ESO)Abstract:
On April 20, 2004, the US National Academy of Sciences selected 72 new members and 18 foreign associates from 13 countries, including Dr. Catherine Cesarsky, ESO’s Director General. This brought the total number of active members to 1949, including 351 foreign associates.

Announcements

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121R..70.Section:
AnnouncementsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
ESO
AA(ESO)Abstract:
ESO – the European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Hemisphere – and the Sociedad Chilena de Astronomía (SOCHIAS) are organising a Latin American Astronomy Summer School. It will take place from December 8–10, 2005, the week before the Regional Meeting of the International Astronomical Union to be held on December 12–16, 2005 in Pucon, Chile (~ 800 km South of Santiago).

ADS BibCode:2005Msngr.121Q..70.Section:
AnnouncementsAuthor(s)/Affiliation(s):
ESO
AA(ESO)Abstract:
100 years ago Albert Einstein published three seminal papers on the theories of special relativity, of the photoelectric effect and of Brownian motion, which made the world call the year 1905 the miraculous year. Together with Einstein’s theory of general relativity fundamental building blocks were provided for modern astrophysics and cosmology and can thus be considered as a true legacy to mankind.